Eloisa

This song is all about Eloisa Pope, my love. She grew up in Thomasville, Georgia, and now lives in Colorado. Go west of Thomasville about 100 miles and you hit the Alabama border. I wrote this song one rainy spring night in South Georgia soon after reading Galway Kinell's "Book of Nightmares". There was a large live oak right outside the window. Kinell, rain, a big live oak: that's a recipe for melancholia.

On this cut, I use my 1956 Martin 000-18 for the acoustic track, which is the acoustic that I use on all cuts for straight acoustic (as opposed to slide) except "Waiting". The Strat was recorded directly into the board though an Avalon tube preamp. Hat's off to Everett and Mark Derryberry for helping me get the electric sound that I was looking for. Deb Schmitt Lobis plays the grand and on this cut does some of my favorite piano work on the CD, especially those 400-pound romanticized chords on the bridge. Steve Amadee later added a hand drum and shaker track. I was really trying to capture the sound of a Jack Bruce composition on the seminal Harmony Row album, "The Counsel at Sunset". I got as close as I could. But, of course, I ain't got Jack's voice. Who does?